Smith, Elder & Co., W.H.
Smith & Sons., Henry S. King & Co., and William
Dawson & Sons were permitted to use their own obliterators.
This enabled these firms to cancel their own mail and deliver it directly
to the trains for dispatch. This practice began in about 1865
and continued at least into the 1880s. Below are examples showing
the range of values that these cancellations appeared on. I have
also found the Smith, Elder & Co. cancellation on the 5s value during
this same period. Although the usage may not have been restricted
to only newspapers and printed matter, this seems to have been the primary
use of these obliterators.